THE SPIDERS. 329 



the door after it. The intruder then finds nothing in the 

 main cylinder, and, owing to the similar appearance of the 

 door to the rest of the interior, is unable to discover the 

 presence of the secondary passage ! 



As the outer door, owing to its slight thickness, cannot 

 be clothed with vegetation, like the cork door, the spider 

 endeavors to supply this want by weaving into it as much 

 as possible veiling or deceptive material, such as dry leaves, 

 splinters of wood, roots, grass-stalks, etc., so that it may 

 harmonise with its surroundings. Yet there are some nests 

 in which this manoeuvre is so badly carried out that attention 

 is rather attracted than avoided. Nests which lie on bare 

 ground easily betray themselves by the fact that the doors 

 dry more quickly and more easily than the earth around, 

 and thereby take a lighter color. Leaves act as the best 

 covering, and a single leaf often amply suffices. 



Sometimes the cylinder rises like a chimney between moss, 

 grass, stones, plants, etc., as much as two or three inches 

 above the surface of the ground, and is attached all round 

 by woven silken threads. Such above-ground cylinders were 

 built by a spider (Atypus preens) observed in the neigh- 

 borhood of Paris, but are far more uncommon than the earth 

 tunnels described, and have no doors. 



The second form of nest newly discovered or newly 

 described by Moggridge is again an unramified cylinder, and 

 is the work of Nemesia Eleunora. The second or subter- 

 ranean door lies from one to four inches deeper than the 

 upper, and only serves to close the one somewhat narrowed 

 cylinder. The upper door is for purposes of concealment, 

 the second for purposes of defence. The latter is again 

 made of earth and silken web, is from one to two lines thick, 

 and has in the place of a lock a flap like that of the sub- 

 terranean door of the ramified nest. This flap may serve to 

 lay hold of, and by means of it the door pushed closely into 

 the cylinder at the approach of a foe may again be drawn 

 back when the danger is past. The door itself, as also is 

 that of the ramified nest, is slightly hollowed above and 

 slightly convex below, so that when open it may not inter- 

 fere with free passage through the cylinder. It is somewhat 

 less wide at the upper end than at the lower, so that the 

 somewhat narrowing tube can be better stopped up, just as 

 this is the case in reverse direction of the cork door. It is 



